Chapter 19: Stunned
The next morning.
On the first day of his classes at the Guide Academy, Xu Xunyue made a special effort to prepare his attire.
Although it was freezing outside, human physique had been evolving for many years, and the constitution of Guides and Sentinels had improved even further on that basis. In theory, they didn’t need to bundle up too much.
The fluffy coat he had worn before was mainly to add a touch of sickliness to his appearance.
Xu Xunyue thought for a moment, then swapped the coat for a more wind-resistant, silver-gray trench coat, paired with a light blue shirt and black suit pants. He put on his Guide-specific gloves, completing a semi-formal, semi-casual look.
He looked at himself in the full-length mirror and felt there was nothing wrong. It was the type of outfit that Dean Xia Feng wouldn’t nag him about. He then went out.
As he passed the study on his way downstairs, Xu Xunyue paused for a moment and went in anyway.
The study windows were never curtained. The weather was nice today, and the faint morning light shone through the windows, hitting the walls and the desk, also illuminating the slightly yellowed old book on the desk.
This was the book Xu Xunyue had been reading in the study the night before last, before Zhu Hui arrived.
Zhu Hui had given him a memory leaf in the spiritual world. After he came out that night, he had placed the leaf in the book.
With the rustling sound of pages turning, the book was opened. The leaf was indeed lying peacefully between the pages.
It was still fresh and dewy, without a hint of wilting. In fact, being pressed in the book had made it even flatter and neater.
Xu Xunyue held the leaf by its stem, took it out, and looked at it for a while. He sighed, then felt a little like laughing.
In the end, he did nothing, just put the leaf in his pocket, then tidied up the book and placed it on the bookshelf.
When he went downstairs, Zhu Hui was already in the kitchen, looking like he had just woken up too.
Last night, Xu Xunyue had specifically told him that since he was starting classes at the academy, he was no longer allowed to wake up two hours early to make breakfast.
Zhu Hui had protested, claiming that this time it would probably only take an hour, and once he got used to it, it would be forty minutes, half an hour, twenty minutes… He had even looked at Xu Xunyue pitifully with those amber eyes and said, “You have to let me do something for you, right?”
…Alright.
Putting aside the accident where Zhu Hui had accidentally snapped the spatula handle yesterday, his stability was still quite impressive. He wouldn’t be a hindrance in the kitchen and would actually help move things along.
So, the final discussion about breakfast resulted in both of them waking up at a normal time and cooking together.
When he was living alone, Xu Xunyue would wake up around this time too. He didn’t have the habit of having a chef come over so early in the morning. He would usually just make something simple for himself, or even just eat dry rations with warm water. If he had no appetite, he would just skip it.
But now, they were living together.
Some things had indeed changed.
This change might have been considered unnecessary when it was first proposed, but when one was actually in the midst of it, it felt quite good.
Thinking of this, Xu Xunyue looked at the other person in the kitchen.
He found that the other person seemed to be staring at him in a daze.
In a few seconds, the snow wolf appeared out of thin air and walked two steps toward him.
After two steps, just as it was about to touch the tip of his shoe, it awkwardly turned back, opened its mouth, and gently tugged on the Sentinel’s pant leg.
[Why aren’t you coming over? Your Guide looks really good today.]
[Don’t you want to kiss him?]
[You really want to kiss him! Why aren’t you moving, you dead-legged fool!]
Xu Xunyue: “…”
Because he was going to school, and it was the first day back after three years in the military, Zhu Hui was dressed very properly and formally today. The black uniform of the highest grade at the Sentinel Academy made him look fit and strong, complete with high-top military boots, half-fingered combat gloves, a combat belt for hanging daggers and magazines… and so on.
Very handsome, the kind of handsome that radiated a sharp edge.
He looked like the top-scoring, popular, and aloof Sentinel from a campus romance novel.
Xu Xunyue admired him from head to toe and found that the only difference between Zhu Hui and the protagonist of a campus romance novel was probably his expression.
Zhu Hui was in a daze, not aloof at all.
He stared at Xu Xunyue, and as he stared, his face turned red.
Xu Xunyue, being mischievous, started to tease him.
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
Zhu Hui blinked several times, feeling the heat on his face, and his gaze wanted to drift to the side.
But he couldn’t bear to, so he pretended to be busy, recalling the spiritual body that had just run out on its own to cause trouble back into his spiritual landscape. He cleared his throat and said:
“You’re too good-looking.”
“You too,” he continued to tease. “But wasn’t I good-looking before?”
“No, you’ve always been good-looking, but today’s style is a little different,” Zhu Hui explained with a red face. “You’ve always been exceptionally good-looking.”
Xu Xunyue nodded, finally letting him off the hook as he walked past Zhu Hui, with the serious demeanor of someone who had just asked a casual question and was now about to get down to business.
…
Zhu Hui glanced at him, then turned his head away.
After two seconds, he glanced at him again.
But Xu Xunyue wasn’t looking at him at all, as if all his attention was focused on breakfast.
Zhu Hui regretted it. Zhu Hui quietly walked over.
Xu Xunyue, who was seemingly focused on his task, was pecked on the cheek by the Sentinel with lightning speed.
When they left, they tested their compatibility again.
It was 69.27%.
Two hours later, at the White Tower.
As early as yesterday, both academies of the White Tower had received major news, but those who had seen it with their own eyes were ultimately a minority. Today was the day the rumors might be verified.
For this reason, there were more people at the main gate than usual.
In the monotonous campus life, gossip was the most sought-after seasoning for students. In this era after the Cataclysm, which was so oppressive it was almost extreme, and in the relatively closed and simple environment of the White Tower, any small disturbance of a different color could stir up a huge wave.
The Sentinel Academy was strictly managed—actually, it was mainly the punishment system that was strict. After all, newly awakened low-grade Sentinels were prone to rampages and needed to be disciplined. The situation at the Guide Academy was better, but it wasn’t particularly lenient either. However, there were always some people who could find a suitable reason to linger at the gate.
The class president of the highest grade, Class 1, at the Guide Academy, Yu Yuan, was one of them.
She had a rather obedient appearance, with a discipline department badge hanging around her neck, looking like an honest student leader.
Of course, just looking.
In reality, her style was lazy and casual, a trait she shared with her homeroom teacher, who also didn’t play by the rules.
She had also heard yesterday’s rumors.
If the information she had gathered was correct, that former Chief Guide of the Empire would be teaching her class, Class 1.
Yu Yuan knew many stories about Xu Xunyue. Eight years had passed, but many teachers who had been teaching at the White Tower for a long time would still mention this person when giving examples.
Things like getting first place in every subject except for the practical class for mental soothing, having terrifying physical strength that broke the limits of a Guide, surviving the Cataclysm outbreak on his way to study and walking into the White Tower alive…
Eight years ago, Xu Xunyue had graduated from the Guide Academy with the top military merits and as an outstanding graduate. It was said that he didn’t even rest for a day before officially forming a squad and rushing to the edges of various Cataclysm Zones and Undeveloped Zones. The world was even more chaotic back then than it was now. The boundaries of the Cataclysm Zones changed frequently, and people’s skills and techniques for dealing with cataclysmic beings and factors were not very well-developed. Yet, he had managed to stand out in that period.
The current dean of the Guide Academy, Xia Feng, had once been his teacher. The dean was not a talkative person, but whenever he gave a lecture and inadvertently mentioned Xu Xunyue, he would talk more than usual.
Even her homeroom teacher, a Guide who was already very powerful in her eyes, had mentioned multiple times in class that he was two years below Xu Xunyue, so he had seen his performance in the training grounds and had been fortunate enough to be guided on a topic related to mental interference.
Before, Yu Yuan could only learn about this high-level Guide through hearsay, and what she knew was from several years ago. But now, there was a brand new opportunity.
Even if this person had been hit hard by an off-site mission three years ago, and rumors had been flying around ever since, Xu Xunyue was still a figure she very much wanted to see for herself.
Right, she had also heard that Zhu Hui might come. It could be today, or tomorrow, or maybe in a week.
With Zhu Hui’s military merits, the administrative teacher could give him full credits with her eyes closed. Attending classes was a trivial matter. Although he had to attend some classes near graduation to make a show of it, he was a Sentinel who had been in the army. He certainly wouldn’t be interested in academy life.
After all…
Which student liked to go to class?!
Yu Yuan tugged on the discipline department badge around her neck. As she looked up, she spotted Yi Chengli by the academy’s landscape forest, holding a broom and pretending to be on duty.
The two people, who had been the top dogs in their respective academies for several years (Yi Chengli’s status was questionable), met eyes and tacitly looked away.
Seeing him, Yu Yuan remembered the rumor from yesterday afternoon that Yi Chengli had been beaten up by Zhu Hui.
Although Yi Chengli had later come out to “refute the rumor,” a quick observation with her Guide ability now showed that the spiritual field around him was a little off, which meant the rumor was definitely true.
So pitiful. I wonder why he was beaten. It’ll probably take a few days to recover.
A flicker of schadenfreude passed through Yu Yuan’s eyes.
Yi Chengli was probably here to wait for Zhu Hui. If Zhu Hui came to class today, what would happen if they ran into each other at the gate?
Young Master Yi couldn’t beat Zhu Hui three years ago. Three years had passed, and the gap would only have widened.
Would she be able to see a spectacular, all-out crushing battle then?
As she was thinking, the classmate who had come with her nudged her with her elbow and whispered, “Hey, hey, do you think Zhu Hui will come with Teacher Xu?”
Yu Yuan pondered for half a second.
“Probably not. They didn’t come together yesterday.”
“But why haven’t they arrived yet?”
“It’s not time for class yet,” Yu Yuan said with a calm expression. “Just wait a little longer.”
“Ahem, Yuanyuan, I don’t think everyone likes to be on time like you…”
“Look over there,” Yu Yuan interrupted her companion’s rambling, tilting her chin forward, her tone uncharacteristically uncertain. “Over there—is that them?”
Her companion’s voice died in her throat.
At the same time, the buzzing whispers around them all disappeared. The gate was eerily quiet.
No matter how much they had gossiped and chattered before, the only Offensive Guide in the Empire, an officer with so many merits in the Cataclysm Zones, was ultimately someone they admired.
A car drove slowly toward the gate.
The car windows were completely tinted, making it impossible to see inside.
The car reached the gate.
The car drove past.
…
The gate was still quiet.
After a long moment, Yu Yuan looked at the shrinking car in her field of vision and said, “I remember that was Teacher Xu’s car yesterday.”
“I-I think so.”
Xu Xunyue had, of course, noticed the unusual silence.
He gave a quick glance and saw many young students in the uniforms of the Sentinel Academy and the Guide Academy.
Some were sweeping, some were on guard duty, some were checking uniforms, but they all had one thing in common—they were all nonchalantly glancing at his car.
Xu Xunyue found it both funny and exasperating.
However, from the day he decided to come to the Guide Academy, this situation was to be expected.
He just took a longer look at the few groups of people in the Guide Academy uniforms, thinking that when he found out which ones were his students later, he could take care of them.
The White Tower was a huge tower. It was said to be a tower, but it was more like a small, self-contained world. Ordinary vehicles could drive within it, and neither academy had issued any rules prohibiting driving.
After entering the main gate and driving for a while, four paths appeared in front of them.
Xu Xunyue knew very well where these four paths led. The first and third from the left led to the main grounds of the Sentinel Academy and the Guide Academy, respectively. The fourth led to the White Tower Research Institute, and the second led to some of the shared facilities of the Sentinel and Guide Academies, such as the cafeterias, recreational areas, public sports fields, training grounds, and so on.
These basic facilities were also set up within each academy. The existence of the second path was mainly for socializing. Public, meaning a place where Guides and Sentinels would appear at the same time. The citizens of the Empire firmly believed that finding a partner should start from one’s student days.
It sounded a bit grand, but it was actually quite effective.
As the car approached the fork in the road, Zhu Hui sat up straight and reached for the car’s safety lock switch.
At this time, the safety lock was on, and the people in the car couldn’t open the doors.
Xu Xunyue caught his movement out of the corner of his eye. Without turning his head, he stared at the front windshield and said in a very normal tone, “Don’t get out now.”
Zhu Hui’s movement paused.
He looked at Xu Xunyue and quickly understood what he meant.
And precisely because he understood what Xu Xunyue meant, his ears turned red again.
He said in a low voice, “Isn’t this… too good?”
Xu Xunyue had already started to turn the steering wheel. Hearing this, he smiled.
“I thought you were going to say, ‘Isn’t this a little inappropriate?'”
Didn’t he say he was mocked by his classmates?
Although it was probably just him playing pitiful.
But this way, no one would be so foolish as to be disrespectful anymore, right?
And so, under a crowd of stunned gazes, the car carrying the fresh gossip turned at the intersection and drove into the first path, the one leading to the Sentinel Academy.
